Senior Tigers Update: November 17, 2022

SENIOR VOLLEYBALL WINS THE LMISSGVA PLAYOFF CHAMPIONSHIP:

Congratulations to our Senior Volleyball Team for winning the LMISSAA Playoff Championship.  This is no small feet. Our LMISSAA Girls Volleyball League is, without doubt, the strongest league in BC with six teams who are all always ranked in the top 10 in BC in either AA or AAA tiers. This year is no exception. In playoff action last week our Tigers upset the #1 AA ranked team in BC, Notre Dame, in the semi-finals and then defeated the #3 AA ranked team in BC, to take the League title. YHS Tigers had been the #2 ranked AA team in BC prior to last week. In the past 30 years, this is only the second time YHS has won the Senior LMISSGVA title. Congratulations players and coaches! This is sweet revenge for our Grade 12s who came so close to winning the Junior title a few years ago.

The Senior Volleyball Team will be competing at the Vancouver Sea to Sky Zone Championships this week at Mulgrave School. Link to the schedule: AA VS2S Schedule.

JUNIOR VOLLEYBALL:

Congratulations to our Junior Volleyball Team who completed their season last week winning their LMISSGVA quarter-final game vs Vancouver Christian but lost their semi-final game to eventual league champs from Crofton House (CHS). The Tigers had a strong season, winning silver at ISAs and working hard and improving all season long. Congratulations and thank you to the team and to our coaches Ms. Kidd and Ms. Angie Duncan.

GRADE 8 VOLLEYBALL:

Congratulations to our Grade 8 Volleyball Team who completed their season last week losing a close and hard-fought quarter-final match to CHS. The Tigers battled hard all season playing good aggressive volleyball which is key to their overall development. Often teams can be more successful playing safe but as many of you know, Mr. Bester focuses on playing volleyball right and being aggressive even if it means we lose some points and end up with fewer victories. Congratulations and thank you  to the team and to their coaches Mr. Bester and Ms. Lesk

TRADITION NEVER GRADUATES: VARSITY FIELD HOCKEY REACH FINAL FOUR AT AA BCs

Congratulations to our Varsity Field Hockey Team for their outstanding finish to the field hockey season. We are so proud of what this young team accomplished over the past few weeks of the season. This season began differently than most. Our Varsity Team had the biggest shoes to fill following last season’s AA BC Championship. With so many graduating players last year, this year’s team had many new, young players and who had little experience playing together. They battled through some hard times during the season which they used to come closer together. They played great at Vancouver Sea to Sky Zones and entered the BCs playing the best hockey they had all season.

In pool play, they easily defeated Keremeos and Southridge but lost a good battle to the #1 ranked team in BC from St Michael’s University School (SMUS). In quarter-final action, they were underdogs to CHS who had a terrific season going into the BCs. Our Tigers pulled out a great upset defeating CHS 1-0 behind the stellar goaltending of Sasha S. In the semi-final, the Tigers battled hard but were no match for the experienced and determined SMUS team who went on to win the AA title. SMUS coach, David Kerr, is a former YHS Social Studies Teacher and was the founder and coach of YHS first ever field hockey team. Congratulations to David Kerr and to the SMUS Blue Jags. 

A big thank you to our players for their unwavering commitment and support of one another and to their coaches. Thank you as well to our group of committed and traveling parents who are always there to cheer on and support the team. Thank you and congratulations to our Grade 12s Sasha and Pippa who leave as 2021 AA BC Champions and this season, continued that tradition of success and inspired our next generation of players; tradition never graduates. It is exciting to have so many returning players who can get started a little earlier next year and do it all over again.

SENIOR FIELD HOCKEY:

Congratulations to our Senior Field Hockey Team who again had a highly successful regular season placing second overall due to goals for/against tie break. The Tigers defeated Little Flower Academy (LFA) in the semi-final and played Notre Dame in the LMISSAA Final. It was a hard-fought game where Notre Dame took an early 2-0 lead. YHS battled back to tie the game at 2 before Notre Dame scored a third goal in the final three minutes. Regardless of the outcome, it was a great season. The Senior Field Hockey Team competes every game and had a terrific ISA tournament at Shawnigan Lake School earlier in the year. Congratulations and thank you to the team and to their coaches Mr. Williams-Walshe, Mr. Oliver Scholfield, and Mr. Chris Tardiff.

CONGRATULATIONS CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNERS!

Tigers Junior Team Placed 14th in BC
Congratulations to all our Cross-Country runners who competed at the BC Championships this past weekend in Victoria.

Conditions were cold and wet all week and during the training run Friday, but the sun came out Saturday while our Tigers battled cold winds and a tough course on the campus of Royal Roads University.

Our Junior Team placed 14th overall among all schools in BC (there is no A, AA, AAA in Cross-country). YHS finished top three among AA-sized schools. This is one of the toughest events in high school sports with over 200 runners in each race. All the runners, regardless of placing, deserve a huge congrats:

Lily – 16th overall, Ruby – 33rd overall, Sofia, Livy, Rachel, Julia, and to Amelia who competed in the Senior Division Race.

HUGE THANK YOU to coaches Jacob Emerson, Ms. Chang, and Ms. McInnis

GOOD LUCK TO OUR TIGERS SWIM TEAM AT BCs!
Our Tigers swimmers will be competing at the BC Championships at Watermania this week, Friday and Saturday, November 18-19. The Tigers continue to be one of the top girls teams in BC each year and again are looking for a top-five finish.

Junior Tigers Update: October 20, 2022

CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING:
Last Friday, October 14, our team participated in the 2022 ISEA Cross-Country Running Championships.We are proud to announce that York House finished 2nd overall in the girls team category! This is a mighty achievement as it requires a top effort from all of the Tigers. Although Cross-Country Running is an individual sport, we need each grade level to run at a high level for us to have team success.

How do the ISEA Championships work? Each participant is given a score based on their placement in the race (1st = 1 point, 33rd = 33 points, etc). Each grade-level team is given a score based on their top four finishers, and the lowest score wins. To compete for the Overall Championhip, you must have a grade-level score from all five grades (Grade 3-7). Having both quality and a quantity of athletes is crucial to team success. This is especially true with Cross-Coutnry Running competitions where your top runners will keep your score low, while your depth will push the competition’s scores higher. 

The Tigers are blessed to have quantity and quality runners, and here are our team results, along with our top four finishers in each Grade:

  • Grade 7 (2nd place) 
    • Charlotte L. (1st place!), Jocelyn C. (7), Aila F. (8), Jessica T. (16)
  • Grade 6 (4th place)
    • Eliza Q. (10), Olive E. (24), Christelle C. (33), Amaaris D. (40)
  • Grade 5 (1st place!)
    • Audrey C. (6), Mackenzie E. (7), Sophie M. (9), Aiza R. (10)
  • Grade 4 (6th place)
    • Megan Y. (21), Ella C. (26), Avery U. (29), Clara D. (30)
  • Grade 3 (1st place!)
    • Isabelle M. (4), Ashiana VV (5), Loretta W. (6), Every H. (11)

Finally, no season is complete without saying THANK YOU to our tremendous coaching staff. Leading the charge of organizing and supporting our 87 athletes was our venerable Head Coach, Mrs. Ling. Joining her for our three weekly practices and four races were Ms. Pearkes, Ms. Banfield, Ms. McCallister, Ms. Krahn, Ms. Abbott, and Ms. Waterhouse. Kudos to our entire team for an amazing season!

VOLLEYBALL:
Our final week of volleyball is quickly approaching as next week will see all four of our Junior School teams participate in their respective ISEA Events. 

  • Monday, October 24: Grade 6 ISEA Playday at the Harry Jerome Sports Centre
  • Wednesday, October 26: Grade 5 ISEA Playday at St. John’s School
  • Thursday, October 27: Grade 7A Tournament at Crofton House School
  • Thursday, October 27: Grade 7B Tournament at York House School

This past week saw the Grade 6s travel to Collingwood for some quality volleyball action, while both Grade 7 teams traveled to West Point Grey (WPGA) to take on the Wolves. At WPGA our 7A team came away with the victory. Unfortunately, our 7B team lost a hard-fought match. League play for the Grade 7 teams will wrap up on Monday at Crofton House School. 

COMMITMENT EXPECTATIONS:
A big thank you to all of our student-athletes who upheld their commitment to their sport and team of choice. Making a commitment to your sport requires discipline and sacrifice. However, without the character to make those choices, we do not learn their value, and we do not own our growth. We should also thank all of the parents who support their children’s activities through their driving, feeding, laundry and countless other ways of giving their time. Well done Tigers!

CODE OF CONDUCT:
The Code of Conduct that we expect from our athletes and parents is not often talked about, nor published, because for the most part our student-athletes, coaches, and parents are excellent at modelling appropriate behaviours. However, from time to time incidents occur that remind me that our Code of Conduct needs to be circulated more prominently. One area I would like to highlight now is the following statement:

We shall respect the rulings of officials and minor officials without gesture or argument, and we shall require others to do the same;

It is an easy one to highlight because we have all seen a parent, coach, or fan who lost sight of the big picture. Often it is around the scoreboard or a call that did not favour their team (child). It is important to remember that an athletic journey is full of different experiences. It is the up and downs, the highs and lows, the wins and losses that make an athletic journey special. A full version of our Code of Conduct will be included in the Term 2 Athletics Sign-Up.

COMMUNITY SPORTS OPPORTUNITIES:
From time to time I receive information from community sports groups. We are happy to post this information through our JS Athletics Blog. 

Smash Volleyball: Has lots of space in their November/December Grade 4-5 program.

It takes place on Monday and/or Thursday from 4:15 pm – 5:30 pm at Shaughnessy Heights United Church.